I am looking at replacing my old Antec build and would like some advice on these components. A friend of mine put this together and I'm sure it will work good but I'm not sure about the HTPC function. I want to make sure it will work with my harmony universal remote, also, that are components or better bang for the buck. Thanks in advance for all The professional help.
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

I've got that same board/cpu in my main HTPC right now. It overclocked to 4.2GHz without breaking a sweat. Loving it. I don't have any harmony remotes so I can't speak to that though. It's been my favorite HTPC so far and that's saying a lot coming from me since I've always sworn by AMD machines as being superior for HTPCs.

that is good to hear, thank you.
also just worried about forgetting something that I'll need for the HTPC Functionality.
the reason I picked that tuner is because it has a good reputation and includes the infrared receiver for the remote, so I don't have to buy it separately.

I've got that same board/cpu in my main HTPC right now. It overclocked to 4.2GHz without breaking a sweat. Loving it. I don't have any harmony remotes so I can't speak to that though. It's been my favorite HTPC so far and that's saying a lot coming from me since I've always sworn by AMD machines as being superior for HTPCs.

I'm not sure if edits show up or not but his link is one that requires a login or cookies so what you are seeing is the last build you put together there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtevis

I am looking at replacing my old Antec build and would like some advice on these components. A friend of mine put this together and I'm sure it will work good but I'm not sure about the HTPC function. I want to make sure it will work with my harmony universal remote, also, that are components or better bang for the buck. Thanks in advance for all The professional help.http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

I'm not sure if edits show up or not but his link is one that requires a login or cookies so what you are seeing is the last build you put together there.

Your link is invalid to everyone but yourself.

Interesting. It wouldn't have been my last build but it's possible I followed someone's last build that I viewed? I never entered any of that into PcPartPicker.

.... also if I click on the link in your post it does actually take me to my last build that isn't the same as what I was viewing before... either way OP should probably post a part list to get accurate feedback.

I don't do any 3D playback so if you plan on doing that then I'm not sure about the needs... but you could save some money by getting a Pentium G3258 and have the option of overclocking it with that board. You don't need the discrete GPU unless you're planning on doing some light gaming (or possibly 3D?). You could probably save some money by getting a Samsung EVO instead of the Pro as well. Also 4GB of RAM should be plenty if it's just a HTPC.

Seems like huge overkill for HTPC duty. I'd definitely scale back on the video card and the RAM. My entire HTPC maxes out at 19W (the whole thing - CPU, drives, video), so it runs very cool and quiet without a lot of fans.

And I assume you don't have cable TV, just OTA, right? What exactly do you need this PC to do?

Personally, I'd scale back the 840 Pro to an MX100 and put the difference towards a Core i5. At a budget of $1000, there's really no good reason to stick to a fake quad instead of getting an actual quad. Other than that, seems like a decent build for MadVR and some light gaming.

When I talked to the guy about what I wanted to do, I did say light gaming because I didn't want to be limited in the future. More than likely, it will only be used for wmc and Internet. What is MadVR? Yes, just Ota tv signal. I would rather spend much less, but I would rather have overkill than not enough. Thanks for all the replies!

IMO future proofing never works, new things will always be better. I would too scale back on the 840 Pro, also I think there are cheaper (and slower) RAMs out there. RAM speed is not needed with a dedicated GPU.

MadVR is a high quality renderer, and currently there are no GPUs capable of running at the max (don't even start thinking about achieving "highest quality possible" ). It's also quite advanced and doesn't work with WMC. Unless you want to venture into the high quality picture videophile territory, I would not recommend it.

If anything, I would improve the CPU to 4 core i5, and ditch expensive RAM, SSD, maybe GPU at your discretion (and I absolutely love the 750Ti, simply the best GPU at the moment. That is if nVidia would support 88.2 khz playback. Grr). For general video usage, the HD 4600 iGPU should be plenty.

Above posters are on the $. You wont notice a difference between samsung 840 pro and MX100 at least nothing noticable. But an i5 vs i3 could definitely come in handy. Basically compromise where you can to get the i5, its worth it.

Hmm RAM prices are very different here, so I'm afraid I can't help with that (and I'm not even sure anymore yours is expensive). GPU is not needed if you don't want to game with serious 3D games. HD 4600 is quite strong for 2D playback and HW accelerated rendering.